DA Vance: John Puglisi Indicted for Stealing Millions Through Life Insurance Scam

September 22, 2015

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., today announced the indictment of JOHN PUGLISI, 48, an employee at a Manhattan-based life settlement provider, for stealing millions of dollars from a private equity fund seeking to invest in life insurance policies. The defendant is charged in a New York State Supreme Court indictment with Grand Larceny in the First Degree.[1]

According to the indictment and documents filed in court, PUGLISI managed a Manhattan-based company called Progressive Capital Solutions, LLC (“Progressive”), a life settlement provider whose primary business involved facilitating the resale and purchase of life insurance policies. PUGLISI was responsible for Progressive’s day-to-day operations, as well as facilitating transactions between individuals who wished to sell their policies and purchasers, who assumed premium payments and received the insurance payout upon the death of the insured individual.

Between April 2010 and May 2011, PUGLISI is charged with misappropriating nearly $6 million paid to Progressive by a private equity fund to purchase life insurance policies on its behalf. Instead of using the money to purchase life insurance policies—for which the money was earmarked—the defendant used the funds for company expenses, such as payroll and loan repayments. PUGLISI also earned a commission by brokering third-party sales of policies that the defendant was supposed to purchase for the private equity fund, and profited from the resale of some of the fund’s policies.

Assistant District Attorneys Chevon Walker and Natallia Krauchuk are handling the prosecution of the case, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Julieta Lozano, Deputy Chief of the Major Economic Crimes Bureau, Assistant District Attorney Christopher Conroy, Chief of the Major Economic Crimes Bureau, and Executive Assistant District Attorney David Szuchman, Chief of the Investigation Division.

Senior Financial Investigator Jeffrey Leap of the Forensic Accounting and Financial Investigations (“FAFI”) Bureau provided financial and investigative analysis, under the supervision of Irene Serrapica, Deputy Bureau Chief of FAFI, and Robert Demarest, Bureau Chief of FAFI. Major Economic Crimes Investigative Analyst Kellie Desrochers and Paralegal Kate Fisch also assisted in the investigation. Investigators Veronica Rodriguez and Matthew Winters of the DANY Investigation Bureau provided investigative support, along with Supervising Investigator Donato Siciliano, under the supervision of Investigator Santiago Batista, Deputy Chief of the Investigation Bureau, and Walter Alexander, Chief of the Investigation Bureau.

District Attorney Vance thanked the Philadelphia Regional Office of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for their assistance with the investigation.

[1] The charges contained in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. All factual recitations are derived from documents filed in court and statements made on the record in court.